I find it a bit rich that Hugh Ritchie is claiming that GAG are only interested in themselves. In his talking point of 21/9/13 (Growers ‘gagging’ Bay over water resource) he notes that he is an Otane farmer and an HBRC ratepayer. Mr Ritchie is on the board of Irrigation NZ and part owner of a 1700 ha property in Otane which is likely to benefit from the dam. Therefore he will be one of the handful of landowners making substantial untaxed capital gains at our (urban ratepayers) financial risk. Why do you think he made this simple omission from his talking point? Perhaps it is he who is only interested in himself, which makes nonsense of the rest of his argument in favor of the dam.